


Make a Wish, Give It a Kiss

by beckettemory



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Build A Bear, Don't Examine This Too Closely, M/M, Mindless Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 03:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1141127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckettemory/pseuds/beckettemory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt's mom took him to Build-A-Bear yearly when he was growing up. Now, he's decided to continue the tradition with Hermann. Hermann surprises himself by agreeing to go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Make a Wish, Give It a Kiss

"Build-A-Bear!" Newton had exclaimed, prompting Hermann to raise an eyebrow. 

"Build-A-Bear," he had deadpanned. Of all the stupidest ideas for a date. 

And Hermann had agreed. Heaven help him. 

 

 

* * *

 

"There it is!" Newt raced ahead of Hermann like a child rather than the thirty-year-old man he was. He peered into the window of the store before remembering that Hermann was slow on his feet, then turned and trotted back to his boyfriend's side, nearly quivering in his excitement.

His enthusiasm was endearing, though Hermann would never let that slip. Instead, he frowned and slowed his pace deliberately, and Newt groaned. 

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, okay. I just get really excited about this place," he explained, and Hermann rolled his eyes, but relented, speeding up ever-so-slightly as Newt continued. "See, my mom took me to Build-A-Bear once a year for my birthday until I went to university (which, okay, was when I was like fifteen, but still) and it kinda became a thing, you know?" Hermann grimaced at his paramour's imprecise language, but Newt took no notice and kept going. "I still have all of 'em. They're at her house, though; I couldn't bring all of them with me when I started with the--ooh! Check it!" he exclaimed, pointing at the sign just inside the storefront advertising their newest plus, a snowy leopard. 

Hermann glanced around disdainfully at the small children running about, the cloyingly cheery decor in primary colours, and the bright signs at each of several stations boasting entirely too repetitious names: Choose Me! Hear Me! Stuff Me! 

Hermann glanced at Newt and saw him taking it all in, too, but with a distinctly different expression, and he almost smiled at the shorter man's contagious happiness. 

After a moment, Newt snapped out of it and turned to the bins along the wall, studying their choices. 

"How about we pick each other's?" he asked, looking up at Hermann. 

Hermann shrugged, along for the ride but by no means determined to enjoy himself. "If you'd like," he acquiesced. Newt grinned, nodded, and began pawing through the bins, looking for the perfect plush. 

Hermann, deciding to at least take this bit seriously, also searched through the bins, though far more reservedly than Newt. Finally he settled on a teddy bear, average in size and shape, but which was made out of fuzzy, rainbow-mottled fabric. It was the most 'Newt' plush he'd been able to find. He turned it over in his hands, studying it, and noted that it was unstuffed and had a large opening on its back. 

Newt bounded up to him then, and with a snicker, presented the plush he'd chosen, a frog. Hermann raised an eyebrow as Newt bit back another laugh. 

"What's so humorous?" he asked suspiciously. 

"Nothing, man, nothing. Like it?" Newt asked, managing to compose himself. Hermann pursed his lips and reached out to inspect the fabric. It was nice and soft, and a pleasant pale green colour, and Hermann nodded. 

"Cool. What'd you get me?" Newt tried to peek around Hermann to see, for he had hidden the bear behind his back. 

"Calm down, Newton." He presented the rainbow bear, his ears burning; not only was he unused to romantic gestures (particularly in public), but a number of parents were eyeing the grown men suspiciously and herding their children away. 

"Hey! That's perfect, man, thanks!" Newt exclaimed, taking the bear and looking at it closer, his huge glasses slipping down his nose. After just a moment he looked up, grinning, and beckoned Hermann to the filling station. 

There, a cheery-yet-tired-looking young woman sat on a stool near a contraption that reminded Hermann of slush machines at American convenience stores; white stuffing was being whirled around endlessly by a rotating arm, keeping it fluffed up (probably unnecessarily, but this was not a place of efficiency and logic). The young woman, whose name tag read 'Darcy' in the same obnoxious font as every other word in the store, smiled at them as they approached, but Hermann could tell it was not entirely genuine. 

"Hi guys! You ready? “she asked mock-excitedly. 

 _For what,_  Hermann wanted to ask, but held back. 

"Yep!" Newt replied, and handed the empty frog to her. 

"Do you want to add any sounds?" Darcy asked, gesturing to a station next to her, a panel of numbered buttons with labels beside them, below a similar grid of small numbered drawers. Newt thought for a moment, then went over to the station, calling "maybe" over his shoulder. He pressed a few buttons, listening to the sounds that resulted, (a short clip of an old pop song, a dog bark, a child of indeterminate gender saying happy birthday), before opening one of the drawers and bringing back a small button, which the girl carefully put inside one of the arms of the frog. 

"Which did you choose?" Hermann asked.

"I'm not telling. You'll find out," Newt smirked. 

"But it's mine!" Hermann exclaimed, indignant. In answer, Newt only grinned wider and smoothed a hand down Hermann's back to rest at his waist. 

Darcy fitted the hold on the back of the frog over a pipe emerging from the side of the machine and stepped on a pedal, and the machine began whirring loudly. She moved the plush around, filling first the arms and legs ( _really all four appendages are legs,_ Hermann thought) and then the head and finally the middle. She switched the machine off and handed the now-filled plush to Newt, saying "give it a hug, see how it feels." Newt complied, nodded, and handed the frog back, to Hermann's mystification. 

The girl began tugging at a few strings that would evidently sew the hole closed without necessitating a needle. 

When he realised what she was doing, Newt put out a hand frantically. 

"Wait! I didn't do the Heart Ceremony!"

Hermann felt his ears go bright red. A Heart Ceremony. Wonderful. He had no clue what that entailed and he did  _not_  want to find out. 

Darcy stopped and stared at Newt, for a moment, then smiled fakely and gestured to a small bin of fabric heart shapes.

"Oh! Sorry! Usually we just do the ceremony for kids, but of course adults can do it too! Go ahead and grab a heart." She eyed Hermann then, and amended. "Or would you two like to do the Heart Ceremony at the same time?" Hermann nodded quickly. Better to do it with someone else and not make as much of a fool of himself. 

Newt laughed. "Yeah, sure."

Hermann handed the rainbow bear to the girl, then limped to the panel of sounds. He scanned the titles of the sounds, pushed a button, and jumped when a loud pig sound filled the store front. He heard Newt laugh. "Hush!" he called to the shorter man, then turned back to the panel and pushed another button, more prepared this time for the sound that played, a kissing sound (he reacted by turning a deeper shade of pink). A third button, a clip of a song he'd heard occasionally on Newt's lab playlist, and he'd decided. He fished a button out of the corresponding drawer and returned to his boyfriend and the grudging employee. 

She placed the button and stuffed the bear, then handed it back with the same words ("give it a hug, see how it feels"). In the meantime they chose hearts, Newt a red plaid one for Hermann's frog, Hermann a red-and-white swirled one for Newt's bear. 

When Darcy had finished stuffing both plushes and held them on her lap, she began the Heart Ceremony. 

"Ready?" They nodded. 

"Rub your heart on your forehead so your friend will always be smart." They complied, Newt grinning, Hermann blushing. 

"Shake it so it will have lots of energy. Rub it on your tummy so it never goes hungry. Rub it on your arm so it will always be by your side. Rub it on your knees so it will always need you. Rub it on your chest so it will always love you. Make a wish!" 

Hermann closed his eyes and wished desperately for something he hadn't wished for since he'd given up on wishes six years ago, something he'd written off as impossible, and he'd surely deny wishing for it if anyone ever asked. He opened his eyes. 

"Give it a kiss!" They kissed the hearts, and at the girl's prompting, pushed the hearts into the chest cavities of their respective plushes ( _rather morbid, if you think about it,_  Hermann thought). Darcy finished closing up the holes, snipping off the excess threads and handing back the plushes. 

"Awesome! Thank you!" Newt exclaimed, grabbing Hermann's free arm and pulling him onward, forgetting the cane that Hermann could not and making him stumble. 

"Newton!" Hermann half-cried, half-growled. Newt immediately released his arm, only to grab and steady him, one hand on his chest, the other on his back, frog plush held in his armpit. "Sorry!" he exclaimed. 

Hermann muttered a curse under his breath, low enough that the parents and children surrounding them wouldn't hear. Newt snorted. 

"What sound did you pick?" Newt asked, as if just remembering. Hermann flushed and squeezed the bear's arm until he hit the button inside.

" _Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_ " came from the plush, and Newt turned pink. 

"I'd hoped you'd forgotten about that phase of mine," he hissed as the song kept playing.

"Darling, it's on your playlist," Hermann replied as the clip ended, and Newt sighed and nodded, then after a moment, grinned. 

"Okay, yeah, you got me." He handed the frog to Hermann and motioned for him to push the button in its arm.

Hermann complied, and nearly dropped the plush when he felt it pulse gently, like a heartbeat. 

"What in the--"

"Like it?" Newt grinned. 

Hermann squeezed again, prepared this time, and nodded, finding the beat rather soothing.

They moved to the racks of tiny clothes on the walls.

"Want to dress each other's, too?" Newt asked, and Hermann shrugged. 

"If you'd like."

Hermann saw a worrying glint enter Newt's eyes. "Oh, I like," Newt smirked, moving closer to the racks. 

Hermann glanced after him, then shook his head and began studying the racks himself, intending to dress the bear like Newt. 

He had chosen a pair of combat boots and black plastic glasses, and was deliberating between a blue sweater with skulls that came with jeans, and a t-shirt with a dinosaur riding a skateboard that came with a blue checked shirt and khaki pants, when Newt laughed to himself nearby. It was a laugh Hermann had heard only on a few situations, and it had never been a good sign. He distractedly put down one of the outfits and began dressing the bear, having chosen the sweater outfit at random. 

He had just wrestled the tiny jeans onto the bear when Newt rounded the corner of the rack, holding the frog, evidently dressed, behind his back and grinning maniacally. Hermann narrowed his eyes suspiciously. 

"Should I be afraid?" Hermann asked, and Newt giggled. "I'll take that as a yes."

Newt presented the plush, and Hermann had to rearrange himself to lean backwards against the table upon which he was dressing the bear so he could put his head in his hands without falling down. The frog was wearing tortoiseshell glasses like Hermann's reading glasses, but that was not the issue. A white shirt was the tamest part of the outfit, which also consisted of embroidered lederhosen, matching brown boots, and a matching feathered cap. 

"What," Hermann croaked from behind his hands, "the bloody hell." Newt immediately doubled over in raucous laughter, nearly dropping the frog. Hermann stared at him until he calmed down, when it hit him.

" _Is this frog meant to be me?_ " he hissed, and Newt began laughing again, nodding, looking as if tears were going to stream down his face at any moment. The parents nearest them stared, shooing their children farther away. 

Hermann glared at Newt and took the frog, turning it over in his hands. The lederhosen were, expectedly, not entirely accurate; there was no drop front flap or even the suggestion of one. The shorts were not made of leather, and neither were the boots. Hermann found he could forgive these errors; the outfit as a whole  _was_  less than $20, after all, and for a stuffed frog. 

As Newt's laughter died down he wiped at his eyes and tried to catch his breath.

"I'm flattered," Hermann said, and Newt stared, taken aback. Clearly he'd not expected Hermann to like the frog. "The lederhosen remind me of some my father wore when he was gardening when I was a boy. He probably still does. Not that I've seen much of him since I left for university," he continued.

Newt studied him for a moment. "Sooooo..... you like it?" he asked cautiously. 

Hermann smiled, swept Newt up in a hug, and kissed his cheek. "Natürlich," he murmured. "It is me, after all."

Newt snorted as he pulled back. "Yeah, cool. So what's mine wearing?"

Hermann gestured to the bear that was half dressed and Newt giggled. "Beautiful, man. Beautiful." He looked up at Hermann. "Looks like we both dressed them like each other."

Hermann rolled his eyes. "Oh,  _please_ , Newton, I don't own lederhosen."

"What kind of German are you?" Newt asked, mock-seriously. 

"One who hasn't lived in Germany since he was eleven," Hermann answered. "You're German, as well; do  _you_  own lederhosen?" he asked, proving a point. 

It was Newt's turn to roll his eyes. "Duh, of course I do." He shook his head disparagingly, and when Hermann stared at him, he laughed. "Nah, I'm just kidding, man. I was pretty much only born in Germany and raised by Germans. I lived in the States from pretty early on." 

He peered down at the bear again. "Hey! Combat boots! Awesome!" 

Hermann finished dressing the bear while Newt hung onto him, looking over his shoulder, laughing excitedly when Hermann finished and hugging it to himself. 

Then, plushes in hand, they paid for their items and left, walking through the mall until they found a bench where they were faced with a tough decision: what to name them. 

After careful consideration, Newt named the rainbow bear 'Alfred.' Hermann, in turn, named the frog 'Dieter.' Newt laughed when Hermann chose this name.

"Don't you have a brother named Dieter?" he asked.

Hermann shook his head. "No. I have a brother named Dieterich."

"You don't... call him Dieter?" Newt asked, thoroughly confused. 

"Of course not. His name is Dieterich," Hermann scoffed. 

"Well yeah but... that's pretty long. You don't even call him Dieter as a nickname?"

"No. I never have. No one in my family has. His friends, perhaps," he answered, taken aback. 

"Ohhh." Newt had come to an understanding. What that understanding was, Hermann didn't know. "Your family's not too big on nicknames, huh?"

Hermann bristled. "No," he replied tersely. 

"Is that why you don't like being called Hermie?" 

Hermann scowled. "Dating or not, you would do well to never call me that wretched nickname ever again," he hissed through his teeth.

Newt laughed, paying his aggression no heed. He leaned back, balanced Alfred the rainbow bear on his lap, put his arm around Hermann's shoulders, and sighed contentedly. 

"What did you wish for," he asked calmly, more softly than Hermann had ever heard him speak. "In the Heart Ceremony, I mean." 

"I'm not telling," Hermann answered, still mildly irritated but sensing Newt's mood shift. "If I tell, it won't come true."

"No, it's if you tell it  _will_  come true. That's why so many people don't get their wish," Newt corrected him, still speaking softly. 

"Well, alright then, let's hear it. What did  _you_  wish for?" Hermann asked, leaning his head back on Newt's arm. 

"That you and I would be together and happy for a long time," he answered, leaning his head back as well as Hermann turned his head to look at him with a soft smile. 

"Me too." 

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is appreciated; however, this is the first thing I've written in several weeks and the first Newmann thing in a month or two so be kind.  
> Disclaimer: I did research on proper lederhosen, but as it is I'm not German (well ok I am but only in terms of heritage) and if there are inaccuracies I apologise for them and, if corrected, I'll edit.


End file.
